Arsenal have been knocked back in their pursuit of Brentford goalkeeper David Raya, but a transfer is still likely to be agreed.
The Gunners reportedly submitted a £20 million offer, plus £3m in add-ons, this week as they seek to sign a new shot stopper to compete with Aaron Ramsdale for the no.1 shirt this season.
On Thursday The Athletic reported that Brentford were “expected” to turn down the bid as it is “slightly below” their valuation of the player, who is in the final year of his contract.
The report adds that talks will continue as both clubs are “looking to complete” a deal before deadline day. The transfer window closes on Friday, 1 September.
Bayern Munich are another club who are “pursuing” the Spaniard, although it is said that Arsenal is the player’s preference.
The transfer may hinge on whether or not Arsenal can offload Matt Turner. The north London outfit are “in talks” with Nottingham Forest over a deal for the 29-year-old. Steve Cooper is also trying to sign Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson.
Despite already landing many of their main targets this summer, manager Mikel Arteta says that the club are still working hard on getting transfers sorted in the next few weeks.
“We are in the process of working on a few things and make a few decisions, there’s still time to do that,” he said.
“We are very happy with the squad, that’s for sure. As well, we have to make sure that can share minutes around the team in order to have healthy competition within the squad. We are working on that.”
Raya has impressed between the sticks for Brentford since the club’s promotion to the Premier League two seasons ago. He has kept 20 clean sheets in 62 top-flight appearances for the Bees, maintaining a save percentage of 77.7 percent.
The former Blackburn Rovers man has previously been linked with Man United, Tottenham and Inter Milan, but it appears inevitable that he will join Arsenal
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